Solid 3.5 stars! ⭐️

This story was a tad predictable, even if not at the final conclusion. I would recommend for a mature teen due to the domestic and dating violence. It’s not incredibly graphic and certainly has a place in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a quick easy YA read.

Ella is mourning the loss of her best friend through a tragic accident and processes her developing feelings of her best friends boyfriend.

The plot twists are good for this debut author.

In "Everything We Never Said" by Sloan Harlow we go through the life of a high school girl who had something tragic happen to her best friend that she cannot explain. As she works through her feelings the third in their group becomes more than a friend, in more ways than one.

A lot for high school age characters - tough subjects to handle. I received an advanced copy of this book but this is my honest opinion.

Ella Graham begins her senior year in a living nightmare. Everywhere Ella walks, she is reminded of her best friend Hayley. Hayley died in a car accident while Ella was driving home from a party. Ella ends up being okay but can’t remember the accident. It upsets her that she can’t remember. That first day back at school, teachers and everyone ask her how she is doing yet can’t take being asked so many times. She thinks that they think she killed Hayley and don’t like her anymore. Is that true? While in a support group at school, Ella realizes that she needs to talk to Hayley’s boyfriend Sawyer. When Ella finds Hayley’s diary while cleaning out Hayley’s room for Hayley’s mom, she takes the diary hidden so Haley’s mom won’t see it.

The author has written a suspenseful novel with twists and turns. The novel is written in chapters of Ella, Hayley and Sawyer. You get their thoughts and actions that take place in the book through their eyes. It was amazing to read this novel as it has a mystery that continues the guilt and survival pain for Ella. Ella must carry on in spite of her loss of her friend. I also liked seeing the individuals thoughts. It is a novel that I did not suspect the subject to be. It suggests that it is better to communicate than isolate yourself. It can solve problems that you don’t know how to deal with it.

This book started off on a good note. Best friend was killed and there seems to be one obvious option as to who killed her. What falls apart in this book, is the discovery of the diary, the possibility of someone else as the killer, the attraction to the dead best friend’s boyfriend and then the worst of it all, when the true identity is uncovered nothing is done to exonerate the person originally accused. So this poor guy just had to stay in jail. The cops just half asses the investigation? So many holes in this story. It was not working to stay together.

I had no idea what the plot twist could be! Loved that it was fast paced, and really different than what I had anticipated. This is YA, and I liked that it is a good bridge for kids who might want to read popular authors like Colleen Hoover and this is a bit more age appropriate. Everything We Never Said is a bit more mature than I expected but still within the YA range.

I thought I knew what was going on and then BAM totally new direction. I loved that the main character had moments of doubting her actions which was a nice retrospect and helped develop her character.

Overall this is an easy book to recommend!

3.5 stars rounded up

If I could describe this book in as few of words as possible it'd be the following:
Major insta love, unrealistic aspects, young adult with spiceeee

Sooo starting off, you'll meet two best friends who will do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING together. It's a true real best friend relationship, however one night Ella wakes up after being in a car accident and her best friend is dead only she doesn't remember anything. Now she has to live with the guilt knowing she was responsible for her best friend's death.

Overall, a good concept even though I read a book right before about a car accident that couldn't be remembered so originality I'd give a 2/5. AND the major insta love was UNEXPECTED... I did NOT see that coming especially with the two characters that were involved like what... Although this is a mystery, I could predict most of the book due to the obvious unrealistic aspects and the SCREAMING red flags lol. The more I write this review, the more I'm considering a 3 stars review versus 4. For being young adult, it had WAY more spice than I remember *although I would say more like a PG-15, nothing too too intense but still borderline.

Would I recommend? yeah
Would I read again? questionable, there was nothing wrong I'm personally just not a fan of insta love and unrealistic plot lines.

<b>”I keep thinking about everything I never told you, everything we never said, wondering if it all could have turned out differently if only I'd confided in you.</b>

time to channel your inner sleuth! so. many. questions! past paced! what happened to hayley?! i HAD to know. i loved this! read it in 24 hours. devoured it! Dark, romantic thriller!

note: this is a young adult novel with mature themes. dm me with any content questions!

✨ THINGS AND STUFF ✨
-dual pov
-diary entries
-family dynamics & broken homes
-what happened that night she died?
-forbidden love
-memory loss & flashbacks
-grief & pain
-secrets
-goosebump worthy revelations
-plot twist!
-#IsThisAKissingBook: open door “kiss the smile off her lips….sawyer presses a kiss to the top of my head”

thank you penguin teen for an advanced copy!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with an eARC of Everything We Never Said in exchange for my honest review!

I had quite an absorbing time with this book, which is being promoted as a YA romantic thriller, but I'd actually say that it would be more appropriate to market this to the NA audience. Initially, this gave off It Ends with Us vibes (to be clear, I like IEWU, but I also don't necessarily consider it to be a good thing when a book reminds me of Colleen Hoover's work). Ultimately, I do think it steers down a different road, one that's satisfying to experience as it explores the pain and trauma of domestic abuse and the ways in which abusers use charisma and genuine-seeming love to conceal the darkness within them. Sure, we have to endure some cringey dialogue and YA tropes, but it's not that glaring in the grand scheme of things. It all builds up to a climactic third act that I can see being too over-the-top for some readers, but it clicks well with me.

Overall, I'm officially rating Everything We Never Said 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to a flat 4 stars. After this debut novel from Sloan Harlow, I'm intrigued to see what she'll write down the line.

An excellent debut by the author, although I think the story pushes the edge of teen/ya and almost makes it to new adult. Despite that, I think a number of teens could handle the story, but it does involve some explicit scenes that might be triggering for some, especially violence. There is also sex on the screen, but it's not explicit.

I don't read a lot of thrillers, so I didn't predict the ending until about two-thirds of the way there. Looking back, there were plenty of clues, but it was still a surprise as I slowly figured out what was going on. Those who read a lot of thrillers might find this a bit more predictable, but regardless, I found it to be a good read, and the ending was satisfying and not open to interpretation, which is something I find frustrating with some thrillers.

The story changes point of view between Ella, Sawyer, and Hayley's diary, which doesn't always work, but I thought the author did a good job with it. Part of it was that Ella and Sawyer's parts took place in the same timeline and Hayley's part was in italics, so there was never any confusion about timelines or how things connected.

Overall, I thought this author did a good job and I've already recommended this to my younger daughter, who tends to like books like this. I would be interested in reading future books by this author.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A dark romance twisty YA thriller? Sounds awesome! This sounded like maybe it would be a little like the movie Fear, which is probably way too old of a movie for anyone reading YA to have heard of, but it’s one of my faves and I thought this would have similar vibes. In some ways, it did.
I felt the twists were a tad easy to guess, but I won’t lie.. I had a few wrong guesses, so it wasn’t terrible. I loved watching the story unfold and trying to piece together what may have happened with Hayley.
I loved Ella and felt for her and the emotions she was struggling with. I was rooting for her romance with Sawyer and the rebuilding of her friendship with Seema, but then the diary entries began and I wasn’t sure who to trust.
I definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of relationship thrillers. While it is YA, it’s a bit spicy, so I wouldn’t recommend to younger audiences and would almost categorize this more as NA.

Already prepped to hit my HS library shelf come August. This book was so good!

I cannot even begin to feel or understand a fraction of what Ella feels in this book. The guilt. The grief. And then having to go back to that school? Senior year?

The twist and turns in this book will keep you guessing and wondering.

The ending. While I had a little figured out, the whole actual ending? No. No I didn’t. The last 25% was so much and gosh. Ella. Heart crushed for her.

Read this!!!!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

There were plenty twists and turns in this book that made the book more interesting to me and had me almost rushing to finish. Good read

This story follows Ella who has been in an accident and blames herself for her best friend’s death. This was such an amazing story with such a great storyline that was hooking. Readers can easily read this book in one sitting as it has such a fast pacing with so much going on to the story. As much as I enjoyed the storyline, I do have to say that the mystery was very predictable. There were also some questions left unanswered and things weren’t clarified. It’s a very dark, thrilling book that deals with domestic violence and sexual content that made me wonder if this book is suitable for YA. This book is mainly in Ella’s pov but alternates between others.

Ella is the FMC of the story and I liked her perspective. I have to say that she is not the brightest when someone approaches her and she spills the tea but she also begins to learn a lot of the truth. We also get Sawyer’s pov who is more of an unreliable character and his story made me wonder if he is even a good person. There are many side characters in this story and they were well written. The romance is forbidden love and friends to lovers with descriptive scenes that shouldn’t be in YA.

The ending was well done but again I kind of expected it to be the way it was. I still enjoyed the book as it was so fast-paced with a lot of unreliable characters. I love seeing the connection of friendship grow and finally getting the answers the MCs deserve. I recommend checking out this book!

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

You see Ella cope through her grief and try to mend relationships. At times I was all in for Sawyer and Ella, and then other times I was so confused with Sawyer. Everything made sense at the end which had me baffled.

When I saw the blurb for this book, I was intrigued but a little wary. Colleen Hoover is not one of my liked authors, and I didn't have high hopes for this one out of concern about abuse romanticization. Yet Harlow's novel drew me in, and everything about the abuse and emotions was handled skillfully without romanticizing it or ignoring it. The complicated emotions felt real and well-developed. Highly recommend!

YA...Romance...Thriller....Yes please!! Ella is 17 and mourning the death of her bestie, Haylie, who died in a car accident where Ella was driving. Complicating her grief, Ella is developing feelings for Sawyer, Hayley's former boyfriend. There is a mystery surrounding the events of Hayley's death, and as the mystery deepens, the story then becomes a look at abuse, violence, and grooming. Narrated from the perspective of both Ella and Sawyer, readers get to know more about Hayley from her Diary Entries. The book deals with serious topics in an interesting fashion. The twist at the end I didn't see coming. Suspending belief is necessary to take the book on its surface. Still, it was an easy read and interesting premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Following a tragic accident, Ella is learning to live without her best friend Hayley. She finds herself wracked with guilt over the accident and remembers nothing about the night Hayley died. She turns to Hayley's journal and as well as Sawyer, Hayley's boyfriend. But as she begins to learn more about her friend through her journal, there are few answers and more questions.

I wouldn't call this a dark romance. It's not really a thriller either. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading it. It was a page turner.

It was good BUT it was so predictable and the writing felt like it just didn't fit. The concept was great.

First, this was a YA novel in every sense of the word. The writing felt a bit juvenile and simple (although I don't mean that as a hard criticism) so it was an easy flowing read, and the characters were fairly one-dimensional. It was predictable in many ways, but it also had some good twists. I also struggled with the dialogue of the main characters - teens speaking more "adult" than most adults do. It made the overall book seem implausible and disjointed. And while this review makes it seem like I didn't enjoy the book, that's not really the case. It was good in many ways, but struggled in equally many ways. So it ended up being just okay for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.